Washing hands is one of the most important measures for preventing the spread of diseases.
Lathering the hands with soap and rinsing them with running water is a simple method of removing germs before they spread.
While children have a natural tendency to get their hands dirty, they usually need a bit of guidance from their parents as well as teachers to learn when they need to wash their hands and how to do it properly, so that the germs are washed away.
Children don’t instinctively wash their hands when they are dirty. It’s also a good idea to talk to children about why hand washing is important and when it should be done.
About 1.5 million children die in developing countries due to diseases that are rooted in hygiene and sanitation.
Kids are vulnerable to infections, and hygiene plays a vital role when it comes to good health.
It is in recognition of these facts that RAKOD Widows Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization that is reaching out widows, the less privileged and the fatherless in society through its Strengthening Community Care and Support project, has taken its Graciela Barrios initiative to schools across the country.
The Graciela Barrios initiative is a Hand Washing Project the Foundation put together to educate school pupils in various communities on the importance of Hand-washing.
After its maiden Hand-washing initiative at the Pakro Junction M.A Primary School in the Akwapim North District of the Eastern Region where the Foundation donated hand-washing equipment such as liquid soaps, soaps, towels, tissues, hand sanitizers, washing bowls, mini-plastic water tanks among others to the school, the Foundation again extended such gesture to the Abamkrom community in the Upper West Akim constituency of the Eastern Region.
Members of the Foundation presented printable posters that can be used to help raise awareness about hand-washing, hand hygiene print materials containing signs, posters and brochures to guide the pupils on the best steps to take when washing their hands before and after eating, and after visiting the toilet.
They also donate cups to all the pupils in the school.
Members of the Foundation took pupils of the Abamkrom Methodist Primary and JHS School through the use the equipment and materials presented to them and how to best wash their hands and at what time to do so.
They also advised them to do away with any open top soap dispensers as they can harbor microbes and can be a source of contamination.
They urged the pupils to always wash hands under running water of sufficient volume and pressure.
Members of the Foundation also asked the pupils to dry their hands since wet hands readily transfer pathogens to food, utensils and other surfaces. Pupils in the school took turns to demonstrate how to wash their hands.
The President and Founder of RAKOD Foundation, Randy Danquah said the Foundation has opened up its reach to other less privileged in society especially pupils in deprived communities, hence the Hand-washing project, stressing that exterminating diseases and sicknesses among children begins from hand-washing and therefore advised that hand-washing facilities should be accessible and sufficient for the maximum use by school children, adults, and those with disabilities.
BY PROSPER AGBENYEGA